Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
Searching by different views
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
- Report: this is the whole Official Report for a particular meeting of a committee or Parliament
- Item of business: this is each individual agenda item in an Official Report. For example, Portfolio Questions would be the item of business in a Meeting of the Parliament report
- Contribution: this is each time someone has made a spoken contribution to a meeting.
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
Search by MSP
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
Searching by keyword
There are two types of keyword search:
- A keyword search without quotation marks will look for every instance of each word used and rank the results by frequency and proximity. It will also include variants of the keywords using “porter stemming”. This is when the search looks for the “stem” of a word regardless of its ending. So, for example, a search for [salmon farm] will return each instance of “salmon” and each instance of “farm” as well as potentially including results for “farms”, “farmed” and “farming”.
- A keyword search with quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase used. So, for example, a search for “salmon farm” in quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase.
Combining search filters
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
More complex keyword searches
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
- a search for “salmon farm” AND “Loch Lomond” will return only results which include both exact phrases
- a search for “salmon farm” NOT “Loch Lomond” will return results for “salmon farm” but exclude results which also include “Loch Lomond”
- a search for “salmon farm” OR “Loch Lomond” will return all results for “salmon farm” and all results for “Loch Lomond” regardless of whether they appear together
Searching by date
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
- Current session (all Official Reports since the current sessions started)
- Last 6 months
- Last 12 months
- each of the previous sessions of Parliament. (Selecting the information icon above the “Select a time period” menu will give you the exact dates for each session.)
- All sessions
- You can also choose to select a custom date range, although adding a Start or End date will mean the search automatically defaults to this option.
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Displaying 1215 contributions
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Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
That money is allocated for the debt advice levy in the social justice line.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
We want that resource to be deployed in the most effective and impactful way. Ultimately, however, the scheme is demand-led, so the key issue that has been addressed is the shortfall in demand. I accept and recognise that there has been a shortfall in demand, which is why, as I have set out, the Government has taken action to address it. I am sure that that Parliament and the lead committee—the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee—will take a keen interest in that, because it is clearly in all our interests to ensure that resource that is made available to support the transition to net zero is fully utilised. That is something on which we can learn from the experience of this year, and we are doing so through the action that we are taking to support greater uptake.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
I think that the figure that you highlighted was for the United Kingdom as a whole. That speaks to the scale of the issue that you raise, to the fact that it is not a Scotland-specific phenomenon and to its perhaps not being directly related to availability of support. Clearly, as a consequence of the pandemic and having reflected on that experience, people will have made different decisions about, for example, their life choices. All Governments are engaged in addressing economic inactivity.
I touched on the fact that, throughout the emergency budget review process and the ABR process, which reflects some of that, we have been focused on ensuring that we provide support in the here and now directly to those who most need it. That is being done in the context of challenging fiscal circumstances and the limitations of the fiscal framework within which we operate.
The other broad point that I would make—it is one that the convener recognised—is that, notwithstanding the level of economic inactivity, we are experiencing an incredibly tight labour market. I accept that some early evidence suggests that that is changing, but one of our challenges is that there are labour shortages in a range of sectors. That, again, is part of the broader circumstances in which we find ourselves.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
We have sought to engage with the UK Government on the ability to reclassify capital to resource because of the circumstances, but we have not yet had agreement from the UK Government on that.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
As you identify from the document, the net change is £1.3 million. The additional £22 million was a targeted carry-forward from the reserve at the start of the year. With updated information, we can see that the demand is not what was originally predicted, which is why the return is taking place.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
It is a question of what policy area the fund supports and what policy area delivers it. You gave the example of £64 million for nursing and midwifery. Clearly, that contributes towards outcomes in the health portfolio, but it is delivered through the education portfolio. Another example that I am sure you will have identified is the transfer around free school meals and the provision of summer activities, which sit within the education and skills portfolio but are delivered through local government.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
I refer the committee to annex A of the supporting document, which sets out the funding envelope and sources of funding.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
The information is in appendix A to the guide. Appendix B sets out the capital position. We have provided an indication of the funding envelope there—we have set out the 2022-23 budget position, the confirmed changes at ABR and the revised position. Those figures include, at the foot of the table, the funds that remain unallocated for resource, capital and financial transactions.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
I am happy to take that away, convener, and to see what we can do in that area. Indeed, if there is anything, more broadly, that the committee would like to discuss on the content of the paper, I am happy to do so. I want to ensure that we provide as much information as possible and in as timely a manner as possible.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Tom Arthur
There is much in the engagement with the UK Government that causes uncertainty around our public finances, as I am sure that you will appreciate. I will draw your attention to paragraph 71, which says:
“Whilst this is a complicated picture, the full “Other Income” funding assumptions have been met, and surpassed by £324 million when the borrowing cost adjustment is reflected in full.”
I hope that that provides more clarity.
